Chatfield senior Andrew St. Germain, left, keeps the ball out of reach of Arvada West senior Marcus Culhane during Tuesday night’s Class 5A Jeffco League game at Chatfield High School. The Chargers won their fifth straight conference game with a 65-57 victory. (Dennis Pleuss)
LITTLETON — Arvada West’s boys basketball team had the opportunity Tuesday night to do a favor for the rest of the Class 5A Jeffco League.
The Wildcats’ mission: Reel in the Chatfield Chargers.
However, Chatfield didn’t want any part of giving up its two-game lead in the loss column to the rest of its pursuers in the balanced conference. The Chargers (14-3, 9-1 in league), ranked No. 10 in this week’s CHSAANow.com 5A boys hoops poll, came away with a 65-57 home victory over A-West.
Chatfield senior Thomas Walker, left, looks for a way around Arvada West senior Jacob Gillan on Tuesday night. (Dennis Pleuss)
“(A-West) was fighting for a league championship tonight, too,” said Chatfield senior Andrew St. Germain, who led the Chargers in scoring with 17 points. “They are right there in the running. It was definitely a big game for both of us.”
The Wildcats (11-7, 7-4) were coming off a tough loss last Friday to Bear Creek. It didn’t look good early for A-West as the defending conference champions jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first few minutes.
Chatfield forced three early turnovers and senior Darius Reiter (14 points) scored the first six points of the game to get the Chargers going. It didn’t help matters that A-West was without guard Luke Neff. The sophomore suffered a hit to the head in the loss to Bear Creek and wasn’t in the lineup Tuesday.
“Our press is definitely our strength. Them not having one of their great players (Luke Neff) and top ball handlers was something we had to take advantage of,” St. Germain said.
Despite the early lead, Chatfield coach Stephen Schimpeler knew A-West’s shooting capabilities would keep the Wildcats a threat to bounce back.
“(A-West) is so dangerous. I think they are probably the best shooting team in the state,” said Schimpeler after Chatfield’s fifth-straight win. “I didn’t see the 8-0 run we had was a big deal.”
The Wildcats found their shooting touch from long range quickly. A-West poured in seven 3-pointers by halftime and finished with a cool dozen on the night. Junior’s Thomas Neff (21 points) and Jesse Porter (17 points) did most of the damage with five 3-pointers each.
A-West actually pulled even with Chatfield at 34-all early in the third quarter when Porter drained a 3-pointer with 6:23 left in the quarter.
Arvada West junior Thomas Neff, right, drives past Chatfield senior Darius Reiter on Tuesday night. Neff had a game-high 21 points, including five 3-pointers, in the Wildcats’ second straight league loss. (Dennis Pleuss)
“I told our guys it’s hard to beat a team when they hit 12 3-pointers on you,” Schimpeler said. “It says a lot about our guys. I was proud of how we played defensively.”
Chatfield senior Alec Wray was key in the fourth quarter. Wray poured in nine of his 14 points in the final quarter. The Chargers were 13-for-15 from the free-throw line in the final eight minutes to keep A-West at arm’s length.
Chatfield’s defense creating turnovers offset A-West 3-point bombardment.
“We just have to cut way back on turnovers. We had way too many,” Thomas Neff said. “We had 13 in the first half. That is really what hurt us the whole game.”
Ralston Valley (13-5, 8-3) and Dakota Ridge (12-5, 7-3) are the closest threat to catching Chatfield in the league standings with a handful of conference games remaining.
“Coach (Schimpeler) keeps saying we control our own fate,” St. Germain said. “That’s definitely a good position to be in, but we’ve got some big games coming up that we are all looking forward to.”
Chatfield will have a quick turnaround. The Chargers host Bear Creek at 7 p.m. Wednesday. A-West’s next conference game will also be at home. The Wildcats host Standley Lake at 7 p.m. Friday.
“Our league is about as good as it has been top to bottom in a long time, which is good,” Schimpeler said. “You’ve got to be ready to go every night.”
